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Saturday, October 13, 2012

31 Days of Halloween 2012: Alligator

An appreciation by Bob Ignizio

If you watch only one giant alligator
movie this year, it should be 1980's ALLIGATOR.
It's about as perfect a "nature gone amok"/giant monster
movie as you can find. Sure, it follows the structure of JAWS
pretty closely, but screenwriter John Sayles puts his own stamp on
the material, making ALLIGATOR
more than just a cheap imitation.

One of the film's
biggest assets is its assortment of memorable characters. For
starters, we've got a great hero in Robert Forster's David, a rough
around the edges homicide detective fighting the ghosts of his past
and male pattern baldness, and not faring too well against either.
Reptile expert Marisa (Robin Riker) is kind of a mess, too. She
still lives at home with her mother, and her collection of pet snakes
isn't exactly a turn-on for most guys. Then there's the fun
supporting parts by character actors like Sydney Lassick (Cheswick in
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST)
as an unscrupulous pet shop owner and perennial B-movie stalwart
Henry Silva (MEGAFORCE,
CHAINED HEAT,
LUST IN THE DUST,
and many more) as an arrogant big game hunter hoping to add the gator
to his list of kills.

But the real reason anyone watches a
movie like this is to see a giant alligator use the rest of the cast
as a buffet, and ALLIGATOR
definitely delivers on that front. Ramon (that's the gator's
name) eats good guys and bad guys alike, and even chomps on a few
dogs and a little kid. Combining footage of a real gator with a
fairly convincing full-size fake head and tail for close-ups, the
effects in ALLIGATOR
are surprisingly good for a low budget movie from 1980. Even
scenes where cast members are being munched on while bright red
Technicolor blood gushes out look cool, if not entirely convincing.

For all the carnage, though, the overall vibe of ALLIGATOR
is one of fun. Director Lewis Teague neither condescends to the
material nor plays it too seriously. He knows his job is to
make a cheap JAWS
rip-off, but like screenwriter Sayles, he doesn't see any reason not
to make this the best cheap JAWS
rip-off he can. In the end it's a toss-up whether
this one wears that dubious crown, or if it belongs to another
Sayles-scripted quickie, Joe Dante's 1978 PIRANHA. Either way, though, ALLIGATOR
is well worth checking out, and since it doesn't have the benefit of
a high profile remake like PIRANHA,
I figure it's more deserving of a write-up here on the Cleveland
Movie Blog.